''Pudhumai Penn'' (), officially released as ''AVMin Pudhumai Penn'' (), is a 1984 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

-language

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Bharathiraja Bharathiraja (born 17 July 1941) is an Indian film director and actor who works mainly in the Tamil film industry. Making his debut in 1977 with '' 16 Vayathinile'', he is known for realistic and sensitive portrayals of rural life in his films. ...

and produced by

AVM Productions AVM Productions is an Indian film production studio founded by A. V. Meiyappan. It is the final oldest survived studio in India. The filming studios are located in Vadapalani, Chennai. It has produced over 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, M ...

. The film stars Pandiyan and

Revathi Asha Kelunni Nair (born 8 July 1966), better known by her stage name Revathi, is an Indian actress and director, known for her works predominantly in Tamil & Malayalam cinema - in addition to Telugu, Hindi & Kannada films. She has won several ...

. It was released on 14 July 1984.

Plot

Revathi's father is a Tamil teacher. He brings up Revathi as a girl with more interest towards the language. One day he withdraws a big sum of money from bank but loses it. Pandiyan somehow finds that money and hands it over to him. Revathi's father on liking Pandiyan's gesture, plans to arrange his daughter's marriage with him. Dr. Rajasekhar, a womanizer is Pandiyan's manager. He rapes and kills the blind sister of Pratap Poten. Pratap pothen kills the manager. In this case, Pandiyan is convicted as guilty and jailed. Revathi struggles to get him out of the prison by proving him innocent. But this needs a lot of money. To earn the required money she does different jobs. Then she finds Pratap Poten, who is a lawyer and convinces him to help her. Pratap Poten gets Pandiyan out of the prison. After Pandiyan's release, he questions Revathi about how she earned this much money to get him out and doubts her virginity. Revathi breaks down and in anger she throws the sacred thread of marriage in Pandiyan's face and leaves away.

Cast

* Pandiyan as Ramachandran *

as Seetha * Pratap Pothen as David * Dr. Rajasekhar as Rajasekhar * Y. G. Mahendran *

Janagaraj Janagaraj is an Indian actor who has appeared in over 200 films predominantly in Tamil cinema as a comedian or in supporting roles. He also starred in few Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi films. Early life Janagaraj was born to Vadivelu and Muthu ...

Chitra Lakshmanan Lakshmanan Ramasamy (born 23 January 1948), known professionally as Chitra Lakshmanan, is an Indian journalist, filmmaker and actor. He produced and directed several Tamil language films starring some of Tamil cinema's major stars during the 19 ...

* Ra. Sankaran as Seetha's father

Production

''Pudhumai Penn'' marked the acting debut of Rajasekhar. It was also Pandiyan's only collaboration with

was 17 years old when doing this film. The studio's name was prefixed to the film's title (''AVMin Pudhumai Penn'', meaning ''AVM's Modern Woman'').

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, while the lyrics were written by

Vairamuthu Vairamuthu Ramasamy (born 13 July 1953) is an Indian lyricist, poet, and novelist working in the Tamil film industry. He is a prominent figure in the Tamil literary world. A master's graduate from the Pachaiyappa's College in Chennai, he first ...

Release and reception

''Pudhumai Penn'' was released on 14 July 1984, and ran for 208 days in the Mini Priya theatre,

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

. The film failed during its first run.

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 24 December 1987), also popularly known as M.G.R., was an Indian politician, actor, philanthropist, and filmmaker who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death in 1987 ...

, then the

chief minister of Tamil Nadu The chief minister of Tamil Nadu is the head of government, chief executive of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the Governors of states of India, governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, bu ...

, decided to re-release the film with tax exemption which led to huge success at box-office. In 2014, Malathi Rangarajan of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' praised Revathi's performance, but noted that the melodrama quotient was "a little too high".

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{Bharathiraja 1980s Tamil-language films 1984 drama films 1984 films AVM Productions films Films about women in India Films directed by Bharathiraja Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Indian drama films Indian feminist films